In the intervening time, the Trump administration tasked NASA with returning humans to the moon before going to Mars. But the agency still sends a regular cadence of robotic missions to the Red Planet, including the NASA InSight mission that launched Saturday (May 5).

Another highlight of the conference will be a panel session from several people involved in "The First," an upcoming television series on Hulu created by Beau Willimon ("House of Cards"). Starring Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone, the show follows an astronaut crew as they become the first to land on Mars. Participants will include series actress LisaGay Hamilton, space shuttle astronaut Michael López-Alegría (a technical adviser on the show) and Amy Webb (a futurist consultant for the show).

No planet is more steeped in myth and misconception than Mars. This quiz will reveal how much you really know about some of the goofiest claims about the red planet.

Other sessions will include a congressional panel discussion, a discussion of key decisions needed to get to Mars, critical Mars science, the economics and manufacturing of space exploration, artificial intelligence and Mars simulation.

Generally speaking, the Red Planet has been a frequent topic of discussion in space news in the past year. The debate over recurring slope lineae — features that may or may not be linked to liquid water — continued, with a late 2017 study postulating the dark streaks may just be dry sand. And earlier this year, NASA's Curiosity rover found bizarre shapes embedded in rock that likely are a sign of ancient crystal formation in water, although the circumstances of their formation are under debate.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) also are continuing work on Martian rovers for launch in 2020. NASA's is called Mars 2020, and ESA's rover will be flown there as a part of the European-Russian ExoMars program.

The Humans to Mars Summit is the annual conference of Explore Mars Inc., a nonprofit organization that aims to make humans a multiplanetary species — and to make crewed Mars missions a reality by the 2030s. The goal of the conference is to bring together various communities (such as scientists, entertainers, government workers, industry representatives and academics) to discuss hardware developments, partnerships, space policy changes and other relationships to further human exploration.

Elizabeth Howell is a contributing writer for Space.com who is one of the few Canadian journalists to report regularly on space exploration. She is pursuing a Ph.D. part-time in aerospace sciences (University of North Dakota) after completing an M.Sc. (space studies) at the same institution. She also holds a bachelor of journalism degree from Carleton University. Besides writing, Elizabeth teaches communications at the university and community college level. To see her latest projects, follow Elizabeth on Twitter at @HowellSpace.